Gerald Boland

Gerald Boland (25 May 1885-5 January 1973) was Minister of Justice of Ireland from 8 September 1939 to 18 February 1948 (succeeding P.J. Ruttledge and preceding Sean Mac Eoin) and again from 13 June 1951 to 1954 (succeeding Daniel Morrissey and preceding James Everett).

Biography
Gerald Boland was born in Manchester, England on 25 May 1885, the son of an Irish Republican Brotherhood member and the brother of Harry Boland. His family returned to County Dublin, Ireland shortly after his birth, and he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood while working as an engineer. In 1913, he joined the Irish Volunteers, and he fought in the 1916 Easter Rising, serving under Thomas MacDonagh. In December 1916, he was released after a general amnesty, and he commanded the Third Battalion of the South Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence; he was nicknamed "Trotsky" for his left-wing views. He was opposed to the 1921 treaty with the United Kingdom, and he spent much of the Irish Civil War in prison. After the end of the civil war, he helped in making Sinn Fein into a large political party, although he refused to take his seat in the Dail Eireann to to the party's abstentionist policy. He later joined the Fianna Fail political party and served as Minister of Justice from 1939 to 1948, detaining foreign agents during World War II and assisting in crushing the IRA. His son Kevin Boland was appointed Minister of Defense during the 1950s, and Gerald remained in the Dail until being defeated in 1961. In 1973, he died at the age of 87.